Lyons: No charges for husband in marijuana case... yet

What the heck is State Attorney Ed Brodsky going to do about Robert and Cathy Jordan?

Nothing at all, I would still bet.

But it did seem worrisome when I saw a headline in Monday's Herald-Tribune.

“No plea deal in marijuana case,” it said.

I wasn't the only one who saw that as bad news, judging by comments from readers who blasted prosecutors for taking a hard line stance on such an obvious medical marijuana case.

The thing is, they haven't. Really.

Some people overlooked the fact that no charge has yet been filed. The decision to file or not is still pending, but nothing in that news story means charges are any more likely now than they ever were.

Potential defendant Robert Jordan, true to his word, did decline a pre-trial intervention program, something any first-time marijuana defendant might be offered. That route normally requires a promise to stop breaking the law, and Jordan had said all along that he could not promise to stop growing a few marijuana plants in his back yard, because his wife needs them.

Cathy Jordan's name is on a bill that could legalize marijuana for medical use in Florida this year, if lawmakers have the good sense to pass it. She suffers from Lou Gehrig's disease. She uses a wheelchair and has slurred speech from the gradually paralyzing disease.

The couple says marijuana is the only thing that has significantly eased the terrible symptoms.

As you might recall, the Jordans had been publicly saying so and urging lawmakers to allow medical marijuana. They had just returned from such a visit to Tallahassee when — coincidentally, it seems — a real estate inspector saw pot plants in the back yard of their Parrish home and reported them.

Manatee County sheriff's deputies seized the plants. But after hearing why Cathy Jordan uses marijuana, they didn't make an arrest even though cultivation of marijuana is a felony.

The Sheriff's Office decided to hand the hot potato to recently elected State Attorney Ed Brodsky.

But as I reported at the time, Brodsky went out of his way to mention in an interview that state law allows him to decline to file any charge he thinks would not serve justice. Clearly, he was strongly considering not filing one.

I suppose another possibility now could be stalling, in hopes the Legislature will change the law in the meantime. But Brodsky says his office isn't stalling, just waiting for documents and information.

He wouldn't be specific. I'm guessing it includes confirmation of Cathy Jordan's illness and of a doctor's opinion that marijuana is helpful.

Brodsky said nothing has changed and there are no new problems.

“We haven't reached an impasse,” he said. “We've asked them to provide some documentation,” and some of has already been provided. He expects the Jordans and their lawyer will soon be providing the rest.